It was a meeting in which Jagraon MLA S R Kler complained that what to talk of the common man, even he was unheard in government offices.

The MLA had to face major harassment when residents of Adda Riakot complained to him about a power problem in their area about 8 on Wednesday night. Kler called up officials but he was unheard. Even till 11 pm, there was no light when angry residents came outside Kler’s house. He kept on calling power officials but in vain and finally power supply was restored at 8 in the morning.

Kler spoke during a meeting held in the market committee office at Jagraon on Thursday in which Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal and all the department officials of his constituency were present.

Kler said, “Officers keep on passing the buck to each other. Finally, general public gets work done after paying bribes. This was a common culture in Jagraon offices. And it needs to be improved.”

DC Aggarwal told the officials to be accountable to the public. He said the public could complain to him directly in case of any problem or even to Jagraon SDM Apneet Riat as well.

Elections of Nagar Council are coming near and perhaps it was an exercise of the area MLA to get closer to the public by stating that he was equally concerned with their problems. All the MLAs have been told by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after the formation of the NDA government to stay connected with the masses.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the AAP had got a major lead of 36,000 votes from Jagraon. Therefore, to reclaim these votes, the SAD is focusing on this area.